🚨 Loading... Read More

Microsoft Israel chief leaves after inquiry into use of tech to spy on Palestinians

Political Leaning Analysis
Left Center Right
Score: -0.23Center / Neutral




Microsoft Israel chief leaves after inquiry into use of tech to spy on Palestinians





Submitted by
MEE staff
on
Wed, 05/13/2026 - 10:52






Alon Haimovich departs after investigation into use of Microsoft Azure by Israel's Unit 8200 spy agency


A Microsoft logo is seen in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris, in April 2026 (Reuters)
Off
The head of Microsoft’s Israeli subsidiary is leaving his post following an investigation into the use of the tech company’s Azure platform by the Israeli defence ministry. 

Alon Haimovich will depart after four years as general manager of Microsoft Israel, with oversight of the subsidiary set to be transferred to Microsoft France, financial paper Globes reported on Tuesday. 

Several managers in Microsoft Israel’s governance department have also left their positions amid concerns that they have violated the company’s code of ethics.

Last year, Microsoft ordered an inquiry into the Israeli military’s use of the company’s technology to operate a surveillance system that could replay and analyse the contents of millions of Palestinian phone calls every day.

The inquiry came in response to revelations that Israel’s Unit 8200 intelligence agency had used Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform to store a vast trove of intercepted calls from Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

The inquiry commissioned by Microsoft is understood to have recently concluded and to have led to Haimovich’s departure. The Guardian reported that while the inquiry’s findings are unclear, Microsoft concluded that Unit 8200 had violated its terms of service, which prohibit the use of its technology to facilitate mass surveillance.

Microsoft subsequently terminated the unit’s access to its cloud services and the products that had supported the mass surveillance project, which aimed to collect “a million calls per hour”.

Google 'playing with fire' by acquiring Israeli company founded by Unit 8200 veterans
Read More »

According to Globes, Haimovich was summoned by the inquiry team after a visit to Microsoft Israel’s offices near Tel Aviv.

Documents seen by The Guardian suggest Haimovich played a role in developing the relationship between Microsoft Israel and Unit 8200 following a 2021 meeting between Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella and the agency's then commander.

This included overseeing a partnership with the spy agency to build a segregated area within Azure to store sensitive intelligence material.

Once completed, Unit 8200 began transferring an expansive archive of everyday Palestinian communications into Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure.

In an email to staff announcing his departure last week, Haimovich said he had positioned Israel as “one of Microsoft’s fastest-growing markets worldwide”.

The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement has described Microsoft as “perhaps the most complicit tech company in Israel’s illegal apartheid regime and ongoing genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza”.

Microsoft has previously said senior executives, including Nadella, were unaware that Unit 8200 was using Azure to store intercepted Palestinian communications.

The company’s vice chair and president, Brad Smith, said last year: “We do not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians.”

Technology







News

Post Date Override
0


Update Date
Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19



Update Date Override
0




Story Timeline

Wed 23:08 - ANSA Main
Lillo in Sanremo
Sat 01:19 - ANSA Main
Sanremo 2026, the evening of covers
Mon 02:00 - La Repubblica (IT)
Sal Da Vinci's popular miracle
Wed 16:41 - The Telegraph
Water wars: the final escalation?
Thu 01:18 - Middle East Eye
Trump vows to bring Iran back to 'Stone Ages'
Thu 03:01 - Al-Monitor
Takeaways from Trump's speech on Iran
Sun 05:07 - Al Jazeera English
Trump’s unpopular war on Iran
Mon 16:39 - The Hill
Trump’s Iran ultimatum nears
Mon 21:45 - The Hill
Trump's looming deadline for Iran
Wed 12:00 - UN News All
Hundreds feared dead in Lebanon strikes
Wed 15:01 - Al Jazeera English
Israel strikes central Beirut without warning
Wed 21:59 - Al Jazeera English
Americans question Trump’s instinct on Iran war
Thu 00:55 - Middle East Eye
Syria condemns Israeli assault on Lebanon
Thu 05:19 - Middle East Eye
Israel renews attacks on southern Lebanon
Thu 12:59 - Middle East Eye
Lebanon calls for direct talks with Israel
Fri 11:00 - Al-Monitor
Giving birth in a shelter in Israel
Tue 11:48 - Al Jazeera English
Who controls the Strait of Hormuz?
Tue 15:45 - Aftenposten (NO)
Trump opens for early talks with Iran
Tue 15:54 - Financial Times
Trump says Meloni lacks courage
Tue 17:58 - Tagesschau
Trump calls Meloni "unacceptable"
Tue 22:57 - National Review
Trump vs. the Pope
Wed 03:40 - TVN24 (PL)
Trump 'shocked' by Meloni's behavior
Wed 13:32 - Washington Examiner
Trump says China agreed not to send weapons to Iran
Sat 10:48 - Al Jazeera English
Hormuz: Spin in the Strait
Sat 10:48 - Al Jazeera
Hormuz: Spin in the Strait
Sat 11:55 - Al Jazeera English
Gunfire reported by vessel in Strait of Hormuz
Mon 15:41 - Washington Examiner
Trump denies Israel pushed US into war with Iran
Tue 04:47 - Middle East Eye
Trump attacks US media over Iran war coverage
Fri 13:03 - Al Jazeera English
Negotiations that enable Israel’s land-grabs
Sat 10:50 - SvD (SE)
Israel releases Swedish activist
Tue 13:12 - Al Jazeera English
A secret Israeli base in Iraq? What we know

Different Perspectives

ANSA Main
54 articles
ANSA Mondo
11 articles
ANSA Politica
7 articles
ANSA Top News
18 articles
Aftenposten (NO)
5 articles
Al Jazeera
6 articles
Al Jazeera English
153 articles
Al-Monitor
166 articles
BBC Europe
3 articles
BBC Headlines
27 articles
BBC Politics
4 articles
DN (SE)
5 articles
DW
2 articles
DW All
31 articles
DW Top
31 articles
DW World
6 articles
Der Spiegel
3 articles
Die Welt
11 articles
Die Zeit Newsfeed
1 article
El Mundo (ES)
5 articles
El Pais
5 articles
Euronews
67 articles
Financial Times
3 articles
Fox News
50 articles
France 24
74 articles
Gazeta Wyborcza (PL)
1 article
HLN (BE)
4 articles
Handelsblatt Politik
4 articles
La Libre (BE)
3 articles
La Repubblica (IT)
86 articles
Le Figaro
3 articles
Le Monde
1 article
Middle East Eye
271 articles
NPR
10 articles
NRK (NO)
3 articles
NYT Europe
3 articles
National Review
1 article
PBS Newshour
14 articles
Politico EU
19 articles
Rzeczpospolita (PL)
1 article
SRF International
1 article
SVT Nyheter (SE)
3 articles
Sky News (UK)
6 articles
SvD (SE)
2 articles
Süddeutsche Zeitung Politik
3 articles
TVN24 (PL)
1 article
Tagesschau
9 articles
The Bulletin (BE)
1 article
The Guardian
13 articles
The Hill
80 articles
The Telegraph
2 articles
UN News All
9 articles
UN News Global
4 articles
UN News Middle East
3 articles
Washington Examiner
55 articles
Washington Post
13 articles
n-tv Politik
6 articles